1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control device for performing, for example, an automatic pilot, an automatic parking, a drive assistance and a parking assistance of an automotive vehicle, to a rotation detector used in the vehicle control device, and to a rotation detector equipped bearing having the rotation detector incorporated therein.
2. Description of Related Art
As a measuring device for measuring the distance between two automotive vehicles, i.e., the inter-vehicle gap, and/or the distance between an automotive vehicle and an object on the road, a inter-vehicle gap sensor (laser radar) of a type utilizing a laser beam has been known. Using a result of measurement, i.e., the inter-vehicle gap, a vehicle control such as, for example, an automatic operation of the automotive vehicle and/or a driving assistance is carried out. In this respect, see the patent document 1 listed below.
Also, in order to perform the vehicle control by accurately detecting a rotating condition of a rotor of, for example, an automotive vehicle or a railway vehicle, demands or desires have hitherto been made to secure a high resolution, highly accurate rotation signal. In a wheel support bearing assembly for rotatably supporting a vehicle wheel relative to a vehicle body, an ABS sensor generally used in an ABS control, that is, an anti-lock brake system control, which is another example of the vehicle control, has been utilized. The ABS sensor has, however, been found that at present the resolving power thereof is not so high. If with such a sensor the rotation can be detected with a high resolution, it can be utilized in a sophisticated vehicle control such as, for example, the automatic operation, the drive assist and/or the safety control in the future. Hitherto, however, a circuit system has been suggested, in which as the rotation detector, a multiplication signal is obtained with a high resolution from a detected rotation signal of sin and cos detected by a magnetic sensor. In this respect, see the patent document 2 listed below.